puke
/pjuːk/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.28 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To sell securities or investments at a loss, often under duress or pressure, in order to satisfy liquidity or margin requirements, or out of a desire to exit a deteriorating market.
Intransitive verb; Slang
Example Sentences
- "2007, The Guardian, The Guardian Science blog, "The latest in the war on terror: the puke saber" the puke saber … pulses light over rapidly changing wavelengths, apparently inducing "disorientation, nausea and even vomiting""
- ""at 8 a.m. took a puke of vinum antimoniale; which operated very kindly; was very weak the remainder of the day.""
- ""Pukes" and "suckers" had badly mauled the Saints, the first pummeling them from Missouri and the second from Illinois."
- "Unfortunately, he could not hold it long enough till the end of the ride, so he puked on the bus seat."
- "At first the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms"
- "I obſerue our Ducheſſe / Is ſicke a dayes, ſhe puykes, her ſtomacke ſeethes, […]"
Etymology
Probably imitative; or, alternatively related to Proto-Germanic *pukaną (“to spit, puff”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew- (“to blow, swell”). If so, then related to German pfauchen, fauchen (“to hiss, spit”), Dutch spugen (“to spit, spit up”), German spucken (“to spit, puke, throw up”), and Old English spīwan (“to vomit, spit”). More at spew. Attested as early as 1581, first mention is the derivative pukishness (“the tendency to be sick frequently”). In 1600, "to spit up, regurgitate", recorded in the Seven Ages of Man speech in Shakespeare's As You Like It.